


Transactions

by Fangirllikewhoa



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-10-22
Packaged: 2018-04-27 14:03:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5051281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirllikewhoa/pseuds/Fangirllikewhoa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written based on the Delphine/Leekie scene at the end of 1x06. Delphine completes a business transaction.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transactions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jackisdoctortom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackisdoctortom/gifts).



She stepped into the gleaming marble and chrome bathroom and shrugged the fluffy white hotel robe from around her shoulders, letting it drop to the tiles. As she stepped under the nearly scalding spray she considered the position in which she found herself. Aldous wasn’t ever subtle. It wasn’t his nature. He had flown her to Minnesota under the guise of having her assistance with his Neolution lecture, but when he asked her if she would be interested in becoming more intimately involved with the clone project, with 324B21 specifically, while twirling the keycard to his hotel room, well, there was simply no room for misunderstanding.

And it wasn’t as though she had been subtle either. She wanted to know more about the project, about its subjects. He knew that; she’d made it abundantly clear, and she wasn’t so naïve that she didn’t use her God-given gifts to her advantage; she’d been doing so all her life. Men were easy in this regard, and happy to provide what she needed. It was a simple exchange- everyone got something they wanted- be it an extra shot of espresso for a smile and toss of the hair or a furnished apartment close to school for her occasional companionship. 

She’d learned the trick from her mother who had leveraged her classic beauty into a new life for herself and elite boarding school for her daughter when she had told Delphine’s powerful and politically connected father that she would go public with their relationship and their child. There was no shame in the transaction, and she’d long ago learned how to make the negotiations come out in her favor. It was true that over time she had learned to lean more heavily on the merits of her scholarship than the curve of her hips, but it remained a tool in her considerable arsenal.

It didn’t hurt that Aldous likely knew that she had had a crush on the lively and brilliant scientist. It had cooled, certainly, once they began working together, but it had been there once. And it was going to be enough to get her through this night. It would be worth it. Just as leaving the post-doctoral fellowship to begin work at DYAD and on this project had been worth it. She had smiled at him as she tucked the key into her briefcase, and just like that he had offered her the opportunity to be a monitor, the only monitor with a full understanding of the clones’ unique biology. Finally, he showed her a photo of 324B21, of Cosima.

As steam filled the room she considered the compact and dynamic young woman she’d finally met. She was a revelation of flesh and bone, a barcode brought to breathtaking life. She was so much more than Delphine had expected. There was a warmth and intelligence in her eyes that she felt drawn to, a mischievous tilt to her jaw. When they stood together Delphine’s eyes roved over her smaller form with a scientist’s discernment but found herself overwhelmed by the parts of the whole. She closed her eyes and tested her recall, but found herself immersed in sensation rather than an accounting of facts: a metallic clink of bracelets, the scent of jasmine and bergamot, the squeeze of cold fingers in her own and eyes that seemed to be searching for something in her own gaze.

She had thought she was ready to study and report on the young scientist, and certainly she would do what was necessary for the good of the project, but she had been unprepared for the reality of Cosima, who, to her had already become an entirely different being than 324B21. She wanted to know everything about the young woman, what she thought about dark matter, or Skrillex, or computational biology or the merits of a particular cheese over another. Of course these things had nothing to do with the type of data DYAD needed her to provide, but she found the answers to her questions more compelling by far. She shook her head and twisted the taps. So strange and terrifying, that she had forgotten that of course her subjects were people in their own right, and what a relief to be reminded of their humanity in such a bold little package.

Delphine stepped out of the shower and pulled the robe tight around her shoulders, knotting the sash low on her hips. She sat at the vanity and carefully twisted and pinned her hair up and off of her neck. She lined her eyes and applied more mascara than usual. She smoothed stockings up her long legs, and slid her dress over her shoulders. This would be her armor. She would make herself up into someone she wasn’t, and she would allow Aldous to take what he wanted, because surely she was going to do the same.


End file.
